


paracosm

by badritual



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Don't copy to another site, Gen, Not Beta Read, Post-Order 66, Post-Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Schrödinger's Gen, Separations, Shippy Gen, Staring Into an Uncertain Future, saying goodbye
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:27:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24203617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badritual/pseuds/badritual
Summary: Today, that gentle voice Ahsoka's heard all her life caresses the back of her mind like a soft breeze.Today is the day.
Relationships: CT-7567 | Rex & Ahsoka Tano
Comments: 4
Kudos: 41





	paracosm

**Author's Note:**

> I’m still rolling around in my sad Clone Wars feels, so.
> 
> I imagine that they’ve been on the run together for several months and this occurs a little while before she ends up on Thabeska. So I’d slot this in roughly about a half a year before the events of _Star Wars: Ahsoka_ take place. 
> 
> This is meant to be platonic but kind of toes the line a little bit. 
> 
> [**Washed Out - Paracosm**](http://nullrefer.com/?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkONssSNiDE)

> **paracosm**   
>  _noun_   
>  ( _plural_ paracosms)
> 
> A detailed imaginary world, especially one created by a child.

_Today_ , that gentle voice Ahsoka's heard all her life caresses the back of her mind like a soft breeze. _Today is the day._

Slowly, Ahsoka opens her eyes and turns them up to the ceiling. The durasteel beams are uneven, and sunlight shafts through the cracks, warming her bare face. 

She can hear Rex’s soft, stuttered breathing nearby and knows he’s caught in the throes of a nightmare. Closing her eyes, Ahsoka reaches out through the Force, imagines running her hand over his creased brow in slow, soothing passes until he settles.

Ahsoka rests her hands over her chest and continues to stare blankly up at the ceiling. She doesn’t want to roll out of her cot. She knows if she gets up that means the day will have begun. The day will have begun and she won’t be able to put a stop to the events that are about to be set in motion.

Not that she’d be able to stop them if she spent all day in bed either, she supposes. 

“Something on your mind, kid?” Rex’s voice shatters the silence that’s fallen over their little makeshift encampment like a shroud. 

Ahsoka sighs before sitting up and dragging a hand down her face. “The Force spoke to me in a dream,” she says, forcing herself to meet Rex’s mildly concerned gaze. She tries not to let her eyes trace over the scar on his scalp. “Today’s the day.”

Rex seems to shrink before her, shoulders hunching, fingers tightening in the blanket resting in his lap. “Ahsoka,” he says. “Are you sure?”

“We can’t stay here and…” she says, before faltering into silence. 

“And?” Rex prompts, though she knows he knows what she’s going to tell him.

“We can’t… We have to separate,” she says, finally looking away. There’s a shadow on the wall that grabs hold of her attention. “If we stay together we’ll be found out.”

“The Force told you that,” Rex says, low, not quite phrasing it like a question though she can hear the uncertainty in his voice. 

“Yes,” she says. “I’m gonna look for a ship I can, uh, borrow. And we can split my credits between us.”

“I can’t take your credits, ’Soka,” Rex says, swinging his legs out from under his ratty blanket. “You’ll need every last one.”

“And what about you?” Ahsoka asks, looking over her shoulder at him. “How are you going to find any of your brothers if you’re creditless?”

“I’ll think of something,” Rex mutters, lowering his head into his hands. 

Ahsoka gets out of her bunk and shuffles over to Rex’s, standing silently by his side for a moment before squeezing in next to him. She rests her cheek on his shoulder and Rex gropes for her hand, wrapping it up tightly in his. 

“We both knew this is how it would end,” Ahsoka says, though the truth to her words is not much of a comfort at the moment. She lifts his hand out of her lap and laces their fingers together. 

Rex gazes down at their interlocked fingers and sighs. “Feels like I’m abandoning my post,” he says, before pausing and quirking a wry half-smile at her. “Again.”

Ahsoka chuckles softly, though she knows the smile she offers him doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “You should be used to this then.”

A soft sigh escapes Rex’s lips, his eyelids fluttering closed. He turns his head, unwilling to let her see evidence of the sadness that she can sense in his soul. 

“We’ll meet again someday,” Ahsoka promises him, wrapping both of her hands around his and holding on. “I know we will. The Force wouldn’t lie to me.”

Rex glances over at her, and she can see tears clinging to his eyelashes. She feels her own tears pricking the corners of her eyes. “The Force told you that?” he asks, roughly. 

“As loud and clear as a bell,” Ahsoka says, giving him what she hopes is a reassuring nod. 

She can feel him in the Force, spinning through space, unanchored. Afraid. Afraid for himself at losing her after fighting by her side—for her—for so long. And she can feel fear for her, too. 

Ahsoka cups a hand against his cheek. Rex goes still, eyes not leaving hers, mouth trying to twitch into a smile for her. They’re both drowning right now, in the uncertainty and fear, in front of a dark, shapeless future, and all Rex wants to do is put on a brave face for her. Her heart clenches and aches for him, for both of them.

“You’re my best friend,” Rex mumbles, reaching up and clasping a gloved hand against hers. “Family. _Vod_.”

There was a time Ahsoka would say Anakin had been her best friend. Somewhere, over the years, that had changed. Somehow, her heart had widened, making enough room for two. 

“ _Vod_ ,” Ahsoka echoes, rolling the weight of it around on her tongue. 

“Sister,” Rex says, mouth settling into a genuine smile this time. 

Ahsoka feels the tears she’d been holding back finally spill down her cheeks. But she isn’t entirely sad. She pulls her hand away from Rex’s face and wraps her arms around his neck in a fierce hug. Rex’s arms wind around her, holding her close. 

They’ll have to let go of each other soon, maybe forever, and head into a dangerous, uncertain world without the other by their side, but right now they’re all they have. They’re all they need. The rest will sort itself out later.


End file.
